Worcester city manager says constables to be put on notice about paying fees

Friday

Jul 12, 2013 at 11:56 PM

By Winston W. Wiley, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — City Manager Michael V. O'Brien said he will be immediately putting all current constables on notice of their responsibilities to report and submit fees to the city as required by state law.

The action comes in the wake of a Telegram & Gazette investigative report Sunday that found most city and town treasurers across the county routinely neglected to collect the fees and reports mandated by a 2003 law that also doubled the fees private constables charge to serve court papers.

In a report to the City Council, the manager outlined the challenges the city faces in collecting the 25 percent of total fees constables are required to pay in quarterly installments when the fees due exceed $500.

Mr. O'Brien noted that the law puts the full onus on the constables to submit the reports and fees and provides no mechanism for municipalities to identify, calculate or verify fee amounts that may be due.

"I, like my counterparts in other Massachusetts communities, find this remote and impractical law nearly impossible to administer due to the undefined process laid out in Section 95A and the resulting lack of information available, making any collection process cumbersome and impossible to substantiate," Mr O'Brien writes.

He said although it is impossible for the city to validate what the constables submit, the treasurer's office will begin verifying that the quarterly submissions are made. Constables who do not make the appropriate submissions will be denied reappointment, he said.

"I do believe that pursuing these minimal returns will have an unwanted result of creating a drain on the other important work performed by the Treasurer's Office — a Division that I have been forced to cut deep due to the extended economic downturn and the resultant annual reduction in State Aid," the manager writes.

He said the city has instead focused on operational efficiencies and activities that have the most benefit to the residents and pay long-term dividends.

The city also plans to research what legal actions can be taken to remove constables who do not comply after they have been appointed.

Currently constables are appointed for three years based on a 2010 City Council request, the manager said. Before that, the appointment period was for one year.

"We will need to reevaluate the appointment period or develop some other method to remove a constable who does not comply with the law during their tenure," the city manager said.

"We are reviewing this and other potential needs for legislative actions necessary to institute a practical, consistent and accurate reporting and collection process."